MoreThanWords (5 page)

They’re so hard…I don’t think they’ve ever been this hard
before.

Does it feel good?

God yes. It feels so good. I never touch them this much.
She pictured him smiling at that, then tugged at them again.

Do you wish it was me touching your breasts?

Mind reader.
Yes.

If I were with you, I wouldn’t stop at your breasts. I’d
be sliding my hand down your stomach right now…under the edge of your panties.
Describe them to me.

Calli tipped her head for a better look. Not the most risqué
pair she owned, but cute.
They’re low-rise boy-cut shorts with a little bow
on the front. They match the bra.

Very nice. Sexy in an innocent way, like you.

She slipped one hand under the polka-dotted fabric and
headed straight for her clit. Touching herself in the middle of the living
room. With the lights on, while sexting with a hot bass player who for some
unfathomable reason was interested in her. Interested enough to seek her out
and come bearing a Scrabble board. Crazy. Crazier yet was hitting send on the
message she’d pecked with her free hand.

It’s wet in my panties. Hot too.

You’re killing me.

Want me to stop?

Not a fucking chance, sweetheart. I want you to finger
yourself until you come. I want you to tell me exactly what you’re doing and
how it feels.

Only if you do the same.

You want me to finger myself?

She pictured him grinning at the screen…the sexy smile lines
by his almond-shaped eyes, the slight dimples in his cheeks.
If that’s how
you like it…

I think I’ll go with stroking instead.

She hadn’t asked where he lived, but it couldn’t be too far,
since he’d dropped by the store twice in as many days. Right now he might as
well be in the room. Heat washed over her at the mental image of Travis, legs
extended, cock in his hand. His eyes would be on her while he palmed his
length, over and over. She circled her clit, brushing her fingertips over it at
the top of each pass. Lightly at first, harder as the need to come surged. She
ditched the teasing circles for full-contact rubbing, edging closer and closer
to climax with each second.

Until the laptop beeped at her.
Calli. Talk to me.

She groaned and pecked out a quick message.
Can’t type
while I’m…you know. Need another hand.

Travis’ reply was immediate.
I have two you can use.

So come over and use them, why don’t you?
She sent
the message before she could overthink it. Putting the invitation out there was
safe enough—he knew where she worked, not where she lived. If he did accept,
she could play it off as part of their sexy little game. She didn’t have to
take it further. Though if he asked for her address, she might just give it up,
have Travis over…for sex. Even if for one time. So what if she’d never done
anything like this before.

I’ll be there in twenty minutes. And Calli…put your
clothes back on. I want to enjoy undoing those buttons for myself.

He’d what? Be here in twenty minutes, to undress her?
Impossible. Think, think…in any of their chats, had she given clues about
living above the store? Her skin tingled from the self-inflicted
pleasure-teasing and now, from frazzled nerves. She jumped off the couch. Paced
while racking her brain. No, she definitely hadn’t told him. Her home phone had
a private listing that didn’t come up in searches. He couldn’t know.

She plunked onto the couch and hauled the computer onto her
lap. Oh god. He’d logged out. That could only mean one thing—he was on his way.
Here, to her place. Somehow, he knew. Meaning she had about eighteen minutes to
decide whether to answer her door.

* * * * *

Travis bumped the wipers from intermittent to steady speed.
The snow was really coming down now and it was the wet kind.
Wet.
When
Calli had sent that message about her wet panties, then disappeared from their
chat to play with herself…he’d gone from a basic hard-on to a steel beam. Given
her one-eighty this afternoon, there was a damn good chance she’d have changed
her mind about her invitation by the time he got to her place. If so, his
shower had an unlimited supply of
wet
, cold water.

From his conversation with Caitlyn, he knew Calli lived
above Romance U. Few of the indie stores along Belmont had parking lots, so he
found a spot on the street. The store was dark. The upper windows were dark.
But what did he expect—that she’d be standing on the sidewalk waiting for him?

Yeah, maybe he did expect that, since he’d gotten used to
women falling all over him. At gigs, in emails, the daily comments on the
band’s blog and Facebook page—offers no red-blooded male should refuse. Like
his band-mates, he’d enjoyed his fair share of those offers. Enjoyed every
carnal act he’d ever wanted, then walked without a single look back. How many
women had he fucked and left? Hell if he even knew. But Calli wasn’t one of
those women. He was a cocky idiot for expecting her to act like one.

He cursed the sleet that slapped him in the face as he
scoured the building for a second entrance. Should’ve asked. He’d been so damn
eager to grab her invitation and run with it. Now he had to skulk around in the
dark. Served him right.

Long, narrow alleys divided the old buildings in this
section of the city. Barely wide enough for a compact car, at max, and whether
there’d be any space to turn around back there was anybody’s guess. You’d have
to be really familiar with the place to venture into one of these lanes with a
vehicle.

Fluorescents lit the first alleyway. Narrower than most,
strictly a cut-through, it had a window but no door. He cut down the next
access and headed to the back of the brown brick. Motion lights greeted him.
Enough to light up a stadium. Or an interrogation room. The small lot behind
her store was probably brighter now than it had been when the sun was in
full-shine mode this afternoon. Not that he blamed her—a pretty single woman
living alone couldn’t be too careful. Hell, inviting him over wasn’t a
brilliant move on her part, especially after he’d admitted to stalking her
whereabouts via Google. Maybe he’d point that out.

He shook his head, sending snow flying. What the hell was up
with him, getting all protective over a woman he’d just met?

He swept a glance at what was essentially her backyard. A
small patch of asphalt, a couple of metal garbage cans strapped to the wall, a
lamppost and what had to be her car. A tiny silver Hyundai. No scratches on the
side that he could see. Guess she knew her way up and down that driveway.
Hopefully she’d know her way up and down his body before he saw this parking
lot again.

Blood pounded through his veins as he knocked on the door.
Nerves? When was the last time he had those—high school? He’d been in assorted
bands since college, and in assorted women since he’d joined his first band.
The anticipation had adrenaline coursing through his system. Kind of like right
before the stage lights came up. Only better.

He exhaled slowly, his breath forming a cloud against the
cold. A little opening appeared in the miniblinds on the window. All he could
see were fingertips, but he smiled anyway. Metal clinked and thunked on the
other side of the door. More than one lock—smart. That’s what he wanted, a
woman with a brain to go with her—

“Beauty.” Standing in front of him, barefoot, a tiny dog
tucked under her arm, Calli might as well have sucker-punched him. For such a
small, innocent-looking woman, she packed a majorly sexy wallop. “I’ve been
thinking about how you looked this afternoon, but I forgot how beautiful you
are.” Thanks to her love of outdoor lighting, the full blush filling every pore
of her face was his to enjoy.

“Think you have to butter me up to get past my guard dog?”

The
guard dog
was doing more shivering than snarling.
“He looks tough, but no.” A minute might have passed, it could’ve been less,
but the arctic wind made it feel like eternity. Calli shifted foot-to-foot, her
eyes roaming from his face to his feet. The dog shook some more—vigorously—and
Travis cupped his nearly numb hands to his face to blow on them. One of them
had to make a move before they all turned into ice sculptures.

Apparently it was going to be him. “I can go, Calli.”

Her eyes snapped to his face. “Don’t—oh god, I’m standing
here like a moron while you freeze your ass off. It’s just, um, how did you
know where I live?”

Hell, first shocking the shit out of her at the store, now
this. Way to come across as a pervy stalker. Amazing she’d even opened the door
for him. “Your sister told me, while we were at the coffee shop.”

Calli’s eyes widened, not quite as bulging as the
Chihuahua’s, but close. “You asked Caitlyn where I live?”

“No, nothing like that. Shit, I’m making this worse, aren’t
I?”

“Well…”

He had to smile. The way she cocked her head to the side,
the little shrug. Damn, so cute. “She mentioned giving me a tour of the store.
Said that the owner, who was also her sister, lived upstairs. Once I realized
that Caitlyn wasn’t my Scrabble girl, the pieces fit that her sister must be.”
His toes were officially numb, but he deserved it. “I should’ve told you all
this before shutting down my computer and driving over here.” And now, the part
where he behaved like a decent guy, not Travis Graham, womanizing charmer of
panties in three provinces and at least four states. “I’m going to head home.
If you give me your number, we could talk, which I would very much like to do.”

“I’d rather we, uh…”

The frigid November night had turned the tip of her nose
red. The pink on her cheeks had nothing to do with the weather. Both were
fucking adorable.

“Pick up our game online?” He sounded like a desperate man.
Appropriate, because that’s exactly how he felt.

“No, I want… Ugh, I’m not very experienced at this stuff.”

“Me either.” He laughed when she raised an eyebrow at him.
“What—it’s true.” And it was—he’d never had to wait in subzero weather for an
invitation from a woman.

“You’re full of shit, but I’d like you to come in anyway. If
you still want to…Travis.”

“I want to.” Jumped all over that, hadn’t he? The sound of
his name in her sexy voice, the way she tested it on those pretty lips, heated
the blood now surging through his veins. He stepped inside and she
triple-bolted the door behind him. Locking him in with her—fine by him. “I like
it when you say my name.”

She smiled up at him while returning her dog to the ground.
“I like it too. I mean, when you call me Calli.”

“It suits you. Very feminine, with a hint of incredibly
cute.” He shrugged his coat off and delivered it to her waiting arms. Watching
her move around, the simple act of hanging a coat on a hook, had him itching to
touch her. She caught him staring. Smiled a little, blushed a lot. Damn.

Her hands knotted together in front of her waist. “Would you
like to come upstairs?”

So sweet, so proper. So unlike the women he’d grown
accustomed to. If they were chatting online, he’d play on her words, tell her
it didn’t matter where he came, as long as it was with her. For now, he dialed
it back. “Very much. Lead the way.” He kept his hands at his sides as they
climbed the wooden stairs. Took all his willpower, but he didn’t touch her.
Just stared at her pert ass swaying in front of his face. His cock pushed
against his fly. Taking the edge off a few hours ago didn’t count for much now,
not with Calli’s bare legs mere inches away, tempting him to the point of
insanity.

“You don’t have a heart condition or something, do you?” she
asked when they entered her apartment at the top of the stairs.

“Nope. All my organs have been tested and checked as clean.”

Again with the shy smile. “Just out of shape, then?”

“I like to think I’m not. I run ten kilometers without
stopping and hit the gym at least three times a week.” To hell with it, he was
going for it. He stepped closer and lightly cupped her waist. “Decide for
yourself…put your hands on my stomach, or chest, or whatever else you want to
check the fitness of.”

The top of her head barely reached his chin. She looked up
at him through those long, dark lashes. Reached out tentatively and placed one
palm on his chest. The second one landed a bit lower, sending a streak of heat
straight to his groin.

“See, you’re doing it again.”

“What’s that, sweetheart?”

“Kind of huffing and puffing.” She caught her lip between
her teeth and worried it. Big blue-gray eyes looked up at him.

Was she truly unaware that she was the reason for his short
breaths? “That’s on you, Calli. It’s been a while since a woman has wound me
this tight.” Wrong thing to say, since it caused her to pull back, stripping
him of their contact.

“I don’t get it.” Her arms crisscrossed over her chest in a
hug. She shook her head and put more space between them by stepping around the
furniture in her living room. “Want something—to drink, I mean?”

One step forward and two back. No problem. He’d dance with
her all night, as long as she didn’t kick him out again. “That’d be great.
Whatever you’ve got.” He followed her through an arch that separated the living
room from the kitchen area, then leaned on the counter beside her as she poured
two glasses of cranberry juice. He let his fingers linger over hers as she
passed him one of the purple highballs. “What don’t you get?”

“You—being interested in me.”

“Because we met playing Scrabble?”

No answer, she just shook her head again. “So, do you want
to…sit, or…” Her eyes darted from the dinette set to the couch to a darkened
hallway. “I mean, I know you came over to…do stuff.”

They’d gone from hot and heavy online to having an elephant
between them now that they were sharing air instead of cyberspace. And she
thought he only wanted sex—worse, she thought he expected it. No good.